Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$87.00.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SLF. Cormark upgraded shares of Sun Life Financial from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$90.00 to C$94.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$98.00 to C$94.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. National Bank Financial upgraded Sun Life Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$87.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

Sun Life Financial stock opened at C$80.46 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of C$82.99 and a 200-day moving average of C$80.58. The company has a market capitalization of C$45.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. Sun Life Financial has a 1 year low of C$64.38 and a 1 year high of C$88.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00, a current ratio of 92.19 and a quick ratio of 84,866.00.

Sun Life Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.18%. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.87%.

About Sun Life Financial

Sun Life Financial is one of Canada’s Big Three life insurance companies along with Great-West Lifeco and Manulife. Sun Life provides insurance, retirement, and wealth-management services to individual and corporate customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. It also owns MFS Investment Management, a Boston-based asset-management firm.